Constant level tobacco feed for cigarette machines



Nov. 1, 1932. 5, wlENER 1,885,880

CONSTANT LEVEL TOBACCO FEED FOR CIGARETTE MACHINES Fgiled May 16, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 i f l 4 f.

INVETOr Y" 6% Nov. 1, 1932.- A. E. WIENER ,8 ,8

CONSTANT LEVEL TOBACCO FEED FOR CIGARETTE MACHINES FiledMay 16. 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gii'lllll 50 INVENT R ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 1 1 932 ALFRED E. WIENER, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN MACHINE a FOUNDRY COMPANY, A oonronarroiv or new JERSEY CONSTANT LEVEL TOBACCO FEED FOR CIGARETTE MACHINES Application filed May 16,1928, Serial No. 278,283.-

This invention relates to constant level tobacco feeds for cigarette machines, its main object being to increase the uniformityof the tobacco stream delivered to the cigarette rod 5 paper strip,

Uniform density of the cigarette rod produced in a. continuous rod cigarette machine depends upon the evenness with which the tobacco is fed to the paper strip passingthrough the machine. A tobacco feed for a modern cigarette machine consists of a magazine in which the tobacco, placed therein from time to time as needed, is untangled and finely divided by feeding drums, and picker rolls, which direct asteady stream of filler tobacco into a delivery chute suspended over the cigarette rod paper strip. The performance of such a tobacco feed'naturally varies with the quality of tobacco in the magazine, since when freshly filled, a greater portion of the feeding drums and picker rolls is immersed in:

the tobacco mass than when the magazine iS nearly empty; The tobacco stream issuing from the feeding chute, therefore, is densest immediately after, and thinnest just before refilling the magazine. Accordingly, one of the principal objects of the invention is to keep the tobacco in the magazine at as nearly constant a level as possible. WVith these and other objects not specifically mentioned in view, the invention consists of certain 0011- structions and combinations which will be hereinafter fully described and then specifically set forth in the appended claims.

co feed-with a separate filling magazine, or

-hopper, into which the supply tobacco is placed and from which it is automatically In the present invention, the above objects are achieved by providing the ordinary tobactransferred to the tobacco feed at frequent intervals in such quantities that the supply just keeps pace with the demand and the tobacco level remains practically constant duron each of its up strokes, caused to fill a measuring chamber suspended over the tobacco feed, this chamber having for its bottom a trap or door which is opened by the motion of the hopper after the latter, on its down?? stroke, has passed the angle of repose of the tobacco in'the receiving chamber, so that all surplus tobacco has fallen back into the hop per and only a measured remains in the same. 7

To regulate the supply livered by the swinging hopper, so as to exquantity of tobacco 'actly balance the'same against the quantity taken by the feed, thus keeping the tobacco level in the feed constant,-either the frequencyC 7 of the hopper strokes or the quantity of tobacco deposited by it into the -measuring chamber at each stroke or both the frequency and quantity may 'be'varied.

. In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section,

of the improved tobacco feed with the feeding hopper in lowered position;

I Fig. 2 is a fragmentary right side elevation, partly in section, of a modified formca of the device with the hopper in raised position; i v

Fig- 3 is a rear elevation taken on line 33' of Fig. 2;-

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation, part-5' ly in section, of the hopper and of the measiuring chambershown in Fig. 2, with the hopper in an" intermediate position;

Fig. 5 is a top view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

vice illustrated in Fig. 1;

F 1g. 7 is a side elevation, partly in section,

of the arrangement shown in. Fig. 6, with-5 59 the'parts in a diiferentposition;

Fig. 8 is a rear-elevation of the measuring chamber, takenon line 88 of Fig. 6; and Fig. 9 isa front elevatiompartly broken away, taken on line 99 of Fig. 6, showingc' the door operating means of the measuring In carrying the invention into effect, there is provided a device forfeeding a stream of 'tobaccofrom a magazine, mechanism for in-tloo of the tobacco de- 1s a fragmentary side elevation, 1 partly. in section, showing details of the determittently delivering quantities of tobacco to said magazine and means for regulating the amount of tobacco delivered by said mechanism to that fed from the magazine. In the best constructions contemplated, said means operates to regulate either the quantity of tobacco fed to said magazine, or the frequency with which quantitiesare delivered, .or both, In the preferred embodiment, said mechanism'includes a source of supply and a measuring chamber into'which said source of supply delivers tobacco and means to regulate the size of said chamber. Preferably, the device includes a hopper, together with mechanism for moving the hopper to deliver tobacco, a tobacco agitator in the hopper, and

means actuated by the relative movement of said hopper, and its support to operate the agitator. The means above referred to may be widely varied in construction within the scope of the claims, for the particular machine selected to illustrate the invention is "but one ofmany possible embodiments of the same. The invention therefore is not to be restricted to the precise details of the structure shown "and described.

Referring to the drawings, a cigarette machine tobacco feed is provided having amagazine or housing 10, in which the tobacco T 12. After being leveled by a wiper drum 13 from which the surplus tobacco is removed by a picker roll 14:, the tobacco on feed drum 12 is picked off by picker roll 15 which sends a stream of finely divided tobacco into the delivery chute 16. The drums 12 and 13 are driven by worms from a shaft 17, which is driven by aworm from a main shaft 18 and which, in turn, drives a shaft 19 which carries the driving pulley of belt 11.. The drum 14 and the picker roll 15 are usually driven from a separate controllable motor, and the whole tobacco feed as a unit is mounted on pedestal 21. By adjusting the speeds of the various drums and of the picker roll, the tobacco stream issuing from chute 16 is regulated to the density desired, except insofar as the density is varied by changes in the level of the tobacco in the housing 10.

To maintain a constant level of the tobacco T in the housing 10, a continuously 'swinging hopper 22 is employed, which on eachof its up strokes fills a measuring chamber 23 suspended within the housing 10, .and on its downstrokes leaves therein a predetermined quantity of tobacco which is discharged into the tobacco feed, to replace the tobacco used bythe cigarette machine since the previous hopper swing, by opening a'door 35 forming the bottom of the. chamber.

Inthe arrangement shown in Figs. 2 to 5, the size of the chamber 23 is fixed and the quantity of tobacco delivered to the tobacco feed during any given time is regulated byvarying the frequency of the hopper strokes,

is carried by a feed belt 11 to a feed drunr while in Figs. 1 and 6 to 9-the capacity of chamber 23 is adjustable, so that the quantity of tobacco delivered to the tobacco feed may be regulated both by varying the speedat which the hopper is driven and varying the size of the measuring chamber, or by var ing either of these alone.

he hopper 22, by means of the arms 24, is loosely pivoted on shaft 25 supported by the brackets 26 and 27 attached to the sides of the tobacco feed housing 10, and is operated by means of a rod 28 pivoted on the lug 29, from a crank 61 (Fig; 1) driven by a counter shaft 62, which is driven from drive shaft 63 of the cigarette machine by means of a conventional positive infinitely variable transmission 64, the driving ratio of which is controlled by the hand wheel 65.

The hopper 22 is of substantially the same width as the tobacco feed housing 10, and at its free end has a hinged cover 30 for filling. The pivoted end of the hopper swings between the guard plates 31 and 32 attached to the inside surfaces of the side walls of housing 10, which extend upward beyond the house;

ing a sufiicient distance to cover the entire path of the hopper end, thus preventing tobacco from spilling out 'at the sides when the hopper is in its upmost position and is discharging into the measuring chamber.

The measuring chamber is in the form of a hollow angle open towards the hopper, and

is formed by the guard plates 31 and 32 as sides, by. the front wall 23 fastened to the angle 33 at he rear edge of the housing cover,

34, and by the sw'ingable bottom or trap door 35 fixedly attached to pivot shaft 25.

In the-form shown in Figs. 1 and 6 to 9, the lower part of the front wall of the measuring chamber 23 is bent into a circular are 50, having its center of curvature in the axis of pivot 25, so that the door 35 pivoted thereon will keep the measuring chamber closed fora considerable angle of its swing. As a result of this arrangement, the tobacco con-v tents of the chamber depend upon the position within the are at which the door is stopped. i

For the purpose of operating the door 35,

the shaft 25 protrudes through the left. hand guard plate 31 (Fig. 8) and outside of the latter carries the fixedly mounted gear wheel 36, which is inv mesh with the gear 37 rotatably mounted on plate 31. Gear 37, in turn,

meshes with the internal gear 38 loosely-i mounted on shaft25and held in tension for clockwisemovement by the spring 39 (Figs. 5 and 6) attached to the housing 10, thereby driving, through gear 37, the gear 36 and with itshaft 25, thereby moving the tra 2j;125

door 35 to closed position within the arc of the wall 23 of the measuring chamber. Gear 38 has the radial lug 10 so arranged that a pin 41 (Fig. 7) attached to the side of the swinging hopper and projecting through a slot 42 in plate 31 engages with the same when the hopper, in its downward motion, has

passed the angle at which the'surplus tobacco from the measuring chamber has fallen back backward swing of the hopper into its lowermost position by said engagement of pin 41 with the lug on the gear, turns the gear 38 by 7 an amount just sufficient to revolve the gear 1Q 36 in the opposite direction approximately one-quarter of a revolution, thus opening wide the trap door and allowing the tobacco in the measuring chamber to fall down into the tobacco feed receptacle. When the 15 hopper thereafter ascends for its next delivery, the spring 39 pulls the gear 38 back, thereby closing the door of the measuring chamber which is thus ready to receive another charge.

To regulate at will the size of the measuring chamber, means are provided for adjusting the annular closed position of the door 35 Within the arc of the wall of the measuring chamber. The lug 51 is provided on the circumference of the internal gear 38 and a stop 52 for the door registering with the lug 51 is placed on the plate 31. The chamber capacity is made variable by adjusting the position of the stop 52. For this purpose the stop 52 is attached to a sector 53 pivoted loosely on shaft 25 and having the circular slot 54 riding on thumb screw 55 tapped into the plate 31, the said thumb screw serving to hold the stop 52 in the desired adjusted position. The sector 53 has a gear segment 54 meshing with the pinion 57 rotatably mounted on the plate 31, which is turned by the hand wheel 58 to provide a convenient adjustment of the stop 52, and therefore the closed position of the door 35.. A pointer 59 on sector 53 shows the stopping position of the door on the scale 60 screwed to plate 31 and aids in making accurate adjustments by the hand wheel 58. In the form shown in Figs. 2 to 5, the measuring chamber is simplified by omitting the means for adjusting the closed position of the door 35. In this form the lower portion of the front wall of the chamber 23 is straight ing delivery of the tobacco from the hopper 22 by the action of spring 39 connected to rotating gear 38, which gear through gears 36 and 37 and shaft 25, urges the door to closed position. The amount of tobacco delivered by the hopper over a given period of time is and vertical, and the door 35 in closed position abuts the lower edge of this wall, as shown in Fig. 2. This position is held durwhich would not properly separate in the measuring chamber on the descent of the hopper, agitators 43 are placed in the hopper near its discharge opening which pull apart the tobacco shreds and keep the tobacco ina broken up and readily separable condition.

The agitators consist of pins 43 spirally, or

otherwise spaced around rollers 44, supported by the hopper walls and extending radially from the said rollers to within a short distance from the rollers of the adjacent agitators. The rollers 44 are arranged in a circular arc concentric with the pivot shaft 25and outside of the right hand hopper walls (at the left in Fig. 3) carry gears 45 fixedly;

mounted on them. These gears are in mesh with a stationary gear segment 46 loosely centered on the shaft 25 and attached to the. inside of guard plate 32. As the hopper ascends and descends, the gears 45 roll along; the segment 46, thereby turning the agitators, the adjacent pins 43 of which revolve in 0pposite directions, thereby breaking up, the tobacco mass. j j

To keep the air and dust from entering:;;.- the measuring chamber, one end of a flexible cover 47 is attached along the edge of the hopper discharge opening opposite to the pivot shaft 25, the other end of the cover 47 being wound on a spring roller 48 carried by the guard plates 31 and 32. As the hopper swings up and down, the roller 48 automatically winds and unwinds the cover 47 in the fashion of a window shade and thus keeps the cover taut so that it cannot interfere with the tobacco delivery. An angle strip 49, extending across the housing sides below shaft 25, forms the rear cover of the housing and closes up the space between the top of housing 10 and the hopper pivot.

It will be observed that the front wall 23 of the measuring chamber, the shaft supporting brackets 26 and 27 ,the side plates 31 and 32, and the rear wall 49 are united in one structure, which carries all the operating parts of the swinging hopper and measuring chamber, with the exception of the rod 28 which is easily disconnected, so that the level controlling device can be quickly attached to or removed as a unit from the tobacco feed receptacle 10. '115 As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 6 to 9, the device includes both an adjustable measuring chamber and a variable speed transniission, and this combination may be desirable for certain purposes, as for instance where it is advantageous to deliver small quantities of tobacco quite frequently into the magazine of the tobacco feed. However, for most purposes, it is sufficient to either vary the capacity of the chamber23, or the frequency 1 with which the hopper delivers tobacco there- :to. The variable transmission may, therefore, be omitted when the variable capacity measuring chamber is used, except when the greatest range of adjustment is desired." '130 amount of tobacco deliver-ed by said mechaof supply delivers tobacco.

2. In a tobacco feed, the combination with a magazine, of mechanism for intermittently i delivering quantities of tobacco to said magazine and means for regulating at will the nism to that fed from the magazine, said mechanism including a source of supply and a measuring chamber into which said source a device for feeding a stream of tobacco from a magazine, of mechanism for intermittently delivering quantities of tobacco to said magazine and means for regulating at will the' amount of tobacco delivered by said mecha nism to that fed from the magazine, said mechanism including a source of supply and a measuring chamber intermittently dumping its contents into the mass and into which SEtlCl source of supply delivers tobacco, saidmeans regulating the frequency with which said measuring chamber is dumped.

3'. In a tobacco feed, the combination with Y a device for feeding a stream of tobacco from a magazine, of mechanism for intermittently delivering quantities of tobacco to said magazine and means for regulating at will the amount of tobaccodelivered by said mechanism to that fed from the magazine, said mechanism including a source of supply and a measuring chamber arranged to dump its contents into the mass, means for moving said source to deliver tobacco to the chamber, the movement of said source operating to dump the chamber.

4. In a tobacco feed, the combination with a device for feeding a stream of tobacco from a magazine, of mechanism for intermittently delivering quantities of tobacco to said magazine, means for regulating at will the amount of tobacco delivered by said mechanism to that fed from the magazine and a variable speed drive for said mechanism.

5. In a tobacco feed, the combination with a device for feeding a stream oftobacco from a magazine, of mechanism for intermittently delivering quantities of tobacco to said magazine, means for regulating at will the amount of tobacco delivered by said mechanism to that fed from the magazine and a drive for said mechanism including a positive infinitely said mechanism including a source of supply and a measuring chamber into which said source of supplydelivers tobacco and means to regulate the size of said chamber. 7

7. In a tobacco feed, the combination with a device for feeding a stream of tobacco from a magazine, of mechanism for intermittentlydelivering quantities of tobacco to said magazine and means for regulating at will the amount of tobacco delivered by saidmechanism to-that fed from the magazine, said mechanism including a source of supply and a measuring chamber into which said source of supply delivers tobacco and means to regulate the size of said chamber compris:

ing an adjustable wall.

8. In a tobacco feed, the combination with a device for feeding a stream of tobacco from a magazine, of mechanism for intermittent- 1y delivering quantities of tobacco to said magazine andmeans for regulating at will the amount of tobacco delivered by said mechanism to that fed 'from the magazine,

said mechanismincluding a source of supply, a measuring chamber into which said source of supply delivers tobacco, one wall of said chamber beingmovable to open position to dump the chamber.

9. In a tobacco feed, the combination with.

a device for feeding a stream of tobacco from a magazine, of mechanism'for intermittently delivering quantities of tobacco to said magazine and means for regulating at will the amount of tobacco delivered by said mechanism to that fed from the magazine, said mechanism including a source of supply, a

measuring chamber into which said source of supply delivers tobacco, one wall of said chamber being movable to open position todump the chamber, and means to adjust the closed position of said wall to regulate the size of said chamber.

10. In a tobacco feed, the combination with a device for feeding a stream of tobacco from a magazine, of mechanism for intermittently delivering quantities of tobacco to said magazine and means for regulating at will the amount of tobacco delivered by said mechanism to that fed from the magazine, said mechanism including a supply hopper, a measuring chamber, means for moving said hopper to deliver tobacco to the chamber and tobacco agitating means in said hopper operated by movement of the hopper.

11. In a tobacco feed, the combination with a hopper, of a stationary support therefor,

mechanism for moving the hopper to deliver tobacco, a tobacco agitator in the-hopper,

and means actuated by the relative movement of said hopperandsaid support to operate the agitator.

12. In a tobacco feed, the combination with a hopper, of a stationary support therefor, mechanism for moving the hopper to deliver tobacco, a tobacco agitator in the hopper, and means actuated by the relative movement of said hopper and said support to operate the agitator, said means including a gear on the agitator and a stationary gear segment in engagement with the gear.

13. In a tobacco feed, the combination with a hopper, of a measuring chamber, mechanism for moving the hopper to deliver tobacco to the chamber and return, and means operated by the return movement of said hopper to dump the measuring chamber.

14;. In a tobacco feed, the combination with a hopper, of a measuring chamber, mechanism for moving the hopper to deliver tobacco to the chamber and return, and means operated by the return movement of said hopper to dump the measuring chamber, said means including a door and a planetary gear driven door operating device.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

' ALFRED E. WIENER. 

